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For a shot at defeating Christie, Dems need to create a gender gap fast

Except that women love him. A recent Quinnipiac University poll that showed Christie with a commanding 35-point lead in the race also found that 66 percent of women view him favorably.

The silver lining for Buono: 81 percent of women haven’t heard enough about her to form an opinion. That means Buono has seven months to raise her profile and shred Christie’s positive image. It’s a daunting task for a candidate who has never run statewide before and is expected to face an enormous fundraising disadvantage against the one of the most popular Republican governors in the country. …

Christie has employed similar delicacy when discussing gay marriage, stating his personal opposition while also endorsing a proposed statewide referendum that could overturn his veto. Same-sex marriage is backed by a solid majority of New Jersey voters, including 68 percent of women. “Let the people of New Jersey decide what’s right for the state,” Christie said last year, projecting a live-and-let-live attitude.

Buono’s success depends on whether she can cast Christie in a much harsher light by reminding voters that he once supported a constitutional ban on abortion and that his family-planning spending cuts led to the closure of six women’s health clinics. Pro-Buono protesters outside a fundraiser at the home of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg last month shouted, “Hey, Facebook, shame on you. Christie hurts women and now you do, too.”

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Christie’s already won the first big battle of the campaign: being so popular that none of the Democrats’ strongest candidates wanted to roll the dice. Regardless of what many conservatives think of him, there’s no debating the fact that he’s played the game of politics very, very well in New Jersey.

I think the reason GOP party discipline (hey, quit laughing) has not come down on Christie is because he has been keeping Cory Booker from ascending high enough politically to make a plausible run for the White House.

Giuliani was just a mayor, but he was known for kicking butt, taking names, and turning New Jack City into the nice New York City Bloomberg is screwing up. Booker hasn’t been as notable. He would have to run for the Governorship or the Senate to base a 2016 run.

This is a good point. Elections in the future can be won today by killing the other side’s bench. In 2016 the Democrats have Hillary and Cuomo as plausible contenders and that’s it. Thanks to 2010, I probably can’t count the Republican possibilities on both hands.

True, but the Republican is likely to have a popular governor’s backing

Sekhmet on April 4, 2013 at 11:20 AM

Booker is a shoo-in for the Senate. This is New Jersey we’re talking about here. Now that being said, it’ll be harder for him to run for the Presidency from that chamber than it would be as a governor(especially in the post-Obama era), but CRISTie has done almost nothing to impede his rising star status.

I’m no fan of Christie but this piece is crap. As State Attorney Christie cleaned up boat loads of corruption in NJ. As Governor he turned all the red ink from the Corzine regime black. And this ditz wants him defeated over womens issues?

Why do they need a shot at all? Isn’t the GOPe on the verge of surrender?
nobar on April 4, 2013 at 11:53 AM

The real worry for Dems is that the GOP rolls over and dies. I’ve brought it up with them before and it makes them so sad. Politics is really important to the Dems, it’s a sport to them. At this point we’re pretty much forfeiting and nothing could be more disappointing.

That said, notice how the article admits for the democrats that the only way they can beat anybody is by engaging in class warfare. Putting people in one aggrieved class or another and pitting those classes against each other.